A Cruise on Kerala's Backwaters

Today we had a wonderful adventure – a cruise on Kerala’s backwaters.

The backwaters are kind of like an overflow of water from the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. It’s the part of Kerala where these two large bodies of water meet the large mass of land that is India. This part of Kerala, which is farther south than where I am stationed, reminds me of Venice in that the waterways are used as roads. The vehicle of choice for those who live along these waterways, then, is a little wooden boat.

Well, we all got onto a big boat (not too big, as some of the waterways are quite narrow). We cruised the backwaters for hours. Mostly, we saw palm trees. Everywhere, there were palm trees. Kerala is one big jungle of palm trees. Sitting on top of the boat, we had a view that was much like the pictures I had seen of Kerala before coming. It was a breathtaking scene.

I had been daydreaming atop the boat for about an hour and a half when we came to a stop and we were given instructions to disembark. I came back to reality a bit confused, and I wondered if I was the only one who felt nervous about getting off the boat right there, in the middle of a very wide waterway. It was gorgeous to look at, but I certainly did not want to be in it. I went ahead anyway…

And I’m glad I did! It turns out that there was a narrow stone walkway next to which the boat was docked and, about 100 feet down that walkway, another boat, this one a bit larger than the first. And on this big boat, we were served tea! Can you believe that? We had tea on the backwaters! And to think I almost missed it for my daydreaming.

When we had finished our small snack, we returned to our smaller boat and began to make a circle back to dry land. It was near sunset by then (about 6:30 in the evening). The air had cooled, and there was a gorgeous breeze (something we don’t get too often here in Kerala). It was turning into a beautiful night. So we all climbed atop the boat once more, and from there we watched the array of colors that had been the sun descend through the palm trees. We could have been looking directly at heaven.